“9 Billion Dollars,” Sam Stevens writes for The Motley Fool. “That’s how much revenue Apple generated from iPad sales in its most recent quarter, which wasn’t even a holiday quarter. To put that in perspective, in the quarter right before the iPad launched, Apple generated $13.5 billion from all its other products, including the iPhone.”
“Lets take a look back at investor pessimism towards the iPad when it was first announced,” Stevens writes. “The first iPad was often called an ‘enormous iPhone’ or, in the words of Fool langco1, an ‘instant dud and rare miss for apple.’ While there were some initial supporters, many focused on what the iPad wasn’t, and not what it was. It was ‘too late on the netbook market’ and a more expensive Amazon kindle. From Retired31B5M, ‘Exactly what am I going to use it for?'”
Stevens writes, “Perhaps the greatest proof of all was the market’s reaction to the iPad’s announcement. On Jan. 27th, the day of the announcement, the stock opened at $207. By Jan. 29th, the market had pushed AAPL as low as $190. The stock dropped more than 8% on the announcement of a product that now earns Apple $9 Billion in sales in a single quarter just 2 1/2 years later.”
I believe there are at least 3 lessons to be learned from the iPad story:
Lesson 1: Upon the launch of a new product, focus on what it is, not what it isn’t
Lesson 2: Never underestimate the power of branding
Lesson 3: The market isn’t completely efficient
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Many people were wrong, not all.
On January 27, 2010, the very day the iPad was unveiled, our own SteveJack wrote in our Opinion section, “The iPad has a larger target audience than some people might think” as he explained why he, “along with millions of others” would be buying an Apple iPad. Full article, and readers’ reactions to it, here
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ellis D.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Nobody saw over 10 million iPads being sold in 2010 – except for MacDailyNews – January 21, 2011
Dvorak: I really cannot see much of a need for Apple iPad – October 22, 2010
Dvorak: iPad is not going to be Apple’s next runaway best seller – February 12, 2010
Dvorak on Apple iPad: ‘First of all there is no stylus’ – January 29, 2010
TheStreet.com’s Moritz: Apple’s ‘iFlop’ tablet ‘shelved’ until 2010 (with video) – May 21, 2009
TheStreet.com’s Scott Moritz foments: Apple’s unannounced tablet will flop – March 24, 2009
